Hello all, I'm an analog enthusiast, i'm extremely curious about mechanics and electronics inside gears and love to have hands on everything in needing of fix. In digital era, i never got rid of my analog collection of vinyls and musicassettes. Recently learned about how to service cassette tapedecks i own AIWAs AD-f260, AD-f400, AD-F800, and now ready to go more in deep with recording walkmans SONYs TCS-310, WM-GX400 and a like new but misfunctioning WM-D6.
Sadly, somewhere in the past, i have to confess i had many analog gears wasted in the trash, because in my ignorance i tought they weren’t be recoverable: i remember a small all metal TREVI walkman, an HARVEY boombox, a PIONEER CT350 deck … Today i can see here many “brave” boys and girls who demontrate the opposite!
Welcome! I'm a gadget guy and really embraced early digital but always held on to my vintage audio and picked up a ton along the way. Any chance you lived through the Mixed by Erry era?
Oh! Yeah! Didn't knew about Erry until the netflix fiction (I live in northern Italy), I was about 15 or so on, but for sure from the mid 70's thru early 80's pirate cassette where a real and large and capillar phaenomenon. At the day, I remember the wednesday local market at least 2-3 stores all selling almost fake cassette under the sun ... Even it was normal in music stores to ask the seller to record your favourites on a good cassette by paying a fraction instead of buying original LP or tape. On the other hand blank cassette prices were very high. Audiophile market was a niche, car stereos (see cassette) more more popular. About vintage , from the beginning of digital era I'm too collecting for free all sort of analog pieces now considered obsolete by my friends /families: first one score was a couple of Ar3a's, actually my main speakers!
I jumped in about 23 years ago and have got a pretty big collection of everything. I was lucky to have room for big speakers because everyone was tossing those out or giving them away for nothing. I always tell "collectors" to make sure their friends know they like vintage equipment, it will start showing up on their doorstep. We never had bootleg music in my small town, we had BMG and Columbia House buy one get a bunch free mail-order. Back in the 80's there was very few used record stores, it was kind of degrading to buy used but I had a favorite shop that had cheap cassette tapes I used to get all the time. Usually it was the owner behind the counter and they knew everything about the bands.
They say vintage, obsolete, old, solid state, cumbersom, but we know they are “gems” for our ears! That big speakers did came into my home, after his previous owner was tired in renewing suspensions in woofer, and after my friend that received them said “broken woofers”… C’est la vie (EL&P)
